I know I risk sounding cocky but my memory of the marathon is mainly having a somewhat relaxed and fun?! time for most of the way. My mom took these pictures around the 12K mark of the run. Melanie Boultbee (running beside me) and I ran most of the way together. When we caught up to the 3:10 pace bunny group led by Rick Hellard around the 27-28K mark as Melanie noted, it felt like a "rest" as we positioned ourselves in the middle of the pack. We chatted about hockey -- Don't tell Mark W. but I said I didn't care if Toronto lost to Ottawa as I prefer basketball. [An aside: I played hockey & ringette as a girl but am of the opinion that the game has been "ruined" by all the fighting.]
Drafting off men -- How my husband always cautions me not to clip the heels of any men before I go
off to race. How my training partner Christie appeared to be fading and what should I say to him when I went by. The rabbit suggested that
maybe I should try and sneak by so he wouldn't feel bad. When I did go by I offered him one of my powergels which he declined. We also had a
laugh after a water station when I got gatorade up my nose. The pace 3:10 bunny was running about 3:06 pace for most of the race. He then
told everyone that he was going to leave us, meaning let us go on ahead. As Melanie said after the race, "Why do pace bunnies always run
ahead of projected schedule, aren't negative splits more desirable than the "time in the bank" strategy that so often fails?"
Melanie, running with you was great and will be a special running memory,
Thanks!
Submitted to the Longboat Daily Express by Lynn Kobayashi
For a background on this story, please read: Boy 12 finishes 145th Overall
I read the Ottawa story on Nigel Sharp with interest. As you may or may not know, I was pacing Allison Hobeika, a friend of mine from St. John's, Newfoundland, in the marathon (2nd lap).
Late in the event (about 37 k, around Lansdowne Park), we ran into Nigel. He didn't look good and the wind had picked up and he was running by himself - taking the full force of it. I asked him to join us. For the next 3k, he "rested" (we all know that this is temporary) behind Allison and I.
Then he was looking better and better, so I said "Why don't you finish strong". He took off and we didn't see him until the recovery area.
I think his time is a new Canadian age group record and I told him so at the time. (Although, I am not sure if this can be verified.)
Allison finished in 3:06:53. She was just in front of Lynn Kobayashi (who was coming on strong).
Cheers,
Submitted to the Longboat Daily Express by
George Hubbard
It took 17 years to exorcise my demons when thinking about going back to Ottawa. We had moved there because John got an opportunity to expand his career as a systems analyst. I was working in menial jobs in Montreal so I was game to try a new venue. It couldn't get any worse, I thought. We were experiencing the new and daily restrictions of Bill 101 in Quebec. John had lost his job teaching due to cut backs in the English school system and he decided that a career change was the route to take.
We moved to Ottawa just before Christmas in 1981. I was feeling fairly optimistic as I thought new opportunities would arise in a new place. I was wrong. I experienced, on
a small scale, what every new immigrant coming to this country must go through. Everywhere I went to apply for a job, there was some condescending individual telling me why I was not good enough to work for them. I couldn't type, my French wasn't good enough, in one case when I did speak French, the woman doubted my English was good enough!
Depression hit me and that was it. I reminded poor John everyday that I hated it there and I wanted to leave. The whole situation became about me. I worked for a year at the Communication Research Centre where they tested the Canadarm that was installed on the Space Shuttle. I worked at a small company which I dreaded going to everyday. They were slave drivers. I worked at a pharmaceutical firm where the management felt it was their right to insult you. My immediate supervisor wanted me to stop working on my History degree and start taking accounting courses. I was one and a half credits away from graduating, but that didn't matter. I quit that job. I then went to Bell Canada where things looked up a bit. By this time, however, I had had it. I finally graduated and John and I moved to Toronto.
Going back to Ottawa brought back these depressing memories. At one point during the weekend we were walking through a shopping centre I frequented and I started to hyperventilate. Enough, I thought, leave that for the run on
Sunday!
May the 12th rolled around and by this time I was feeling ok. I rather enjoyed the run by the canal. It's an excellent route. It goes right by Carleton University where I finally graduated in History and Anthropology. I started talking to people around me and I was actually enjoying myself. I really liked the route. There were only 2-3 places where you had to deal with car traffic. On the whole, it was a traffic free run; which is almost unknown here in Toronto. It was a cloudy overcast day and it was cool. It made for a great run.
Another aspect I liked about the run, was the runner's expo the day before. It wasn't a big zoo of an event where you would get lost and everyone is trying to sell you anything from goo to shoes to hormone replacement therapy to make you a better runner. It was small and unpretentious. You were in and out in a matter of minutes if you didn't want to hang around. If anyone went to the one in Boston, you know where I'm coming from.
On the whole I recommend the run in Ottawa. There are plenty of B&B's. It's a small city where you can walk anywhere. Public transit is available, but traffic can get tied up in gridlock. A lot has changed in 17 years, even me.
Submitted to the Longboat Daily Express by Toni Lyng
Hey Everybody!
The Running Room bus ride to Ottawa was better organized this year. A man in charge with a list of people going and a knowledgeable and fast bus driver made the trip far more pleasant than last year. Quite a difference, last year it took over 7 hours to get there and we were nearly late for race kit pick-up, and this year, we arrived early early early. It made the weekend much more enjoyable.
April and I spent the afternoon at the race expo, and had a nap at the hotel. Since we got up so early (4:15 a.m.) I was tired and had a nice nap. That was probably my best sleep, as I never sleep well the night before a marathon, too nervous. I helped April with baggage when she went to run the 10K. I cheered her on at the start and then made my way through the crowds to see the finish. The lead men were pretty fast. Exciting to see a Canadian finish 2nd in front of a bunch of Kenyans. Uta Pippig easily won the 10K. April looked good as she finished in a great time. We didn't hang around too long after she finished because I wanted to eat and get to bed early.
Sunday morning was cool (about 8C) and cloudy. A perfect marathon day! Like April, I felt weird having to warm up for a race by myself. I guess we are too co-dependent when we both suffer through a little anxiety at not preparing for a race together :) Ran into Jay Brecher and wished him luck. I headed for the start line late and ended up at the front of the field with the elites. Oops, tried to be unobtrusive as I jumped over the rope holding back the masses and eventually found Lynn, whom I ran with at ATB. We decided to run together since we had similar goals. This turned out to be a great decision since Lynn is an experienced marathoner and this was only my second one. We wisely decided to start slow, not like how we blasted off in the Sporting Life 10K the previous Sunday.
The gun sounded and we were off. I saw April and waved at her but since I was on the other side of the road, I think she missed me. Oh well. Lynn and I stuck with the slow start idea and passed the first
kilometre in around 4:25, I think. Lynn and I chatted for a bit as we eased into the race. We held back and ran what felt like an almost leisurely first 10k. I'm glad she was there to hold me back because I felt like going faster than we did, which probably would have
signalled disaster later on. I forget what any of my splits were but Lynn had a pace chart, which she checked occasionally and said we were on track for a 3:07 finish. Sounded good to me. We passed a few female runners in the early stages and just tried to run light and easy. We had to put in a bit of a surge to catch some men for a little drafting protection just past 12K. Finally caught up to that Gord guy (someone I see a lot of at races, usually we finish quite close to one another) and ran with him for awhile. We ran past the 1/2 mark in around 1:33:xx. I Dropped Gord at this point, but I still felt pretty relaxed as we increased the pace slightly running through all the spectators. It was nice to hear so many people cheering for us women.
Back on the east side of the Rideau Canal and Lynn graciously let me draft off her for a while. We saw a big group ahead of us and worked our way slowly to catch them. Finally around 27-28K we caught up and pushed into the middle of the group for a little rest. Turned out it was the 3:10 pace group, way ahead of schedule. (Why do pace bunnies always run ahead of projected schedule, aren't negative splits more desirable than the "time in the bank" strategy that so often fails?). We passed 30K in around 2:10 and I was still feeling pretty good. Last year, this was where I totally lost it and started walking so I was already happy with my race this year. As we ran into that parking lot 180 degree turn area, we passed yet another woman. I ran with her at the 10K and was glad to easily pass her here. She kept blocking me whenever I tried to pass her in the 10K, so I was happy to pass here. Up and over the one real hill over the canal and we headed for home. Lynn started to speed up slightly and I was tempted to let her go because I was starting to feel tired, but I just kept telling myself that I could do it and matched her pace.
I think it was around the 35K mark that the fatigue and blisters in between my toes started to become more noticeable. But with just 7K left, that's not too far, I could do it. I kept up with Lynn until we came out of the circle near 36-37K and she started to pull ahead as we went down the hill. Yep, definitely feeling it in the legs now. I was anxiously looking for April because she promised to be at the bottom of the hill, and I wanted to ditch my hat. I was running solo now and the wind kept threatening to blow it off. Finally saw her near Dow's Lake and ditched my hat. She asked how I was doing and gave me some much-needed words of encouragement as I passed by. The last 4K were tough. I really wanted this to be over, but I could still see Lynn ahead of me, so I just kept on going. This year, I actually believed the spectators who told me that I was looking strong :) Finally someone told me that I only had 400m to go and I tried to sprint for the finish. I could see the clock ticking past
3:08 and with one last surge, I finished in 3:08:10. Man was I happy with that. That is a personal best by about 11 minutes! Right after I crossed the line, I got a big hug from friend Jennifer of Sportstats, who was working the finish area. Man it was nice to see a friend at the finish line. She even walked me out the finish area, worried that i would be cold until April arrived. Luckily April was waiting with Lynn at the end of the chute.
In a complete turn around from last year, I felt pretty good afterwards. I even managed a semblance of a cool-down. I shuffled twice around a small park near the finish area (and I do mean shuffle; I could barely pick up my feet :))I was even able to eat and drink some post-race food. My final stats are:
3:08:10 real, 3:08:05 chip splits: 1:33:43, 1:34:28 163/2481 17/920 women, 7/178 AG It was a good race for me. I am totally happy with my results this year. It was quite nice to hear people on the course cheering for me - April and a few others, XSNRG folks perhaps? I owe a big thanks to Lynn for running with me.
Couldn’t have done it without her!
Side note: apparently there was a 12 yr old boy who ran the marathon in 3:06. Don't you think that is too young to be running marathons? Melanie next up: the Liftlock 10K in Peterborough in 3 weeks. Hope I am recovered and ready.
Submitted to the Longboat Daily Express by Melanie Boultbee
So On Sunday I ran in the Ottawa Half Marathon. I had a very positive experience and I am glad I decided to use it as a halfway point in my training. Although I missed my time goal by a couple of minutes I learned a lot about running in big events, pushing myself past what I thought I could do, and how to better approach future runs.
I learned that adrenaline is a cheap and powerful drug, and while it allows you to float like a feather through the first 8 or 10 km, when it leaves you around the 12 km mark you feel
depleted and wimpy like you drank a bottle of cheap Mextaca and ate the worm the night before.
I learned that big races mean huge crowds and it can take 3-5 minutes to even get over the start line after the gun goes off, and although this doesn't affect
your chip time, the throng of people ambling towards the first km determines how fast you will be able to run...like a lemming I followed this huge crowd, unable to pass anyone... totally swept up, running much slower then I wanted losing at least two minutes by the first km from my goal time....km #1 7minutes 45 seconds!!!! crawling!!! and I felt powerless to push past anyone. Frankly the whole start was so overwhelming I was in an altered state of consciousness until I hit the first km marker by which point whne I snapped back to reality I thought "Man! I can't make this time up now!!" And though I tried, I didn't...
I learned that the hardest battle exists in the six inches between your ears...and next time I need to do more mental preparation.
Eventually( around 10km) I learned to forget about the time, look at the tulips and enjoy the experience and the thrill of the fact that I was going to accomplish a great training achievement that I could not even dream about back in January!
But most importantly I learned that these kinds of experiences are much sweeter if you can share them with others...and I enjoyed looking for my running group at the 17km mark with high fives and words of encouragement and inspiration and most immensely having my good friend at the finish line waiting to hug me and cry with me and share my triumph...
It was a special day for me because it was a run for breast cancer, and as most of you know, my mother died of breast cancer in 1988. At the end of the run they give each woman a rose.
I took mine to the cemetery on Monday and shared my experience once again with my Mom.
Thank you for the encouragement!
Submitted to the Longboat Daily Express by Cathyann
White
I was looking forward to a chance at Qualifying for Boston when I registered for the National Capital Marathon. I spent the winter training hard enough, with plenty of long runs, and a series of races building to the Around the Bay 30 KM Race. Here, I developed a sore calf that probably can be traced back to running for 35 Km in a cross-wind 2 weeks earlier. When I finished Around the Bay, I tried to imagine running for another hour with this soreness, and it sure didn't seem pleasant, Yet, I stayed focussed positive and determined through the remaining training, but the sore calf came and went throughout this period.
This would be my first real visit to Ottawa since Toni and I moved from there in 1985. Unfortunately, our memories of Ottawa were not pleasant (for more on this please read Toni's article: Exorcising those Ottawa Demons at the National Capital Half Marathon), and neither of us could predict how stirring these difficult memories would impact race day.
The morning of the Marathon promised almost
ideal conditions, and I was looking forward to an honest attempt at the Boston
Qualification target, but I was only 15 Km into the race when the calf problem
flared again. It was indeed a depressing moment, as all the hopes and
anticipations, all the training and positive thinking were not going to make
this pain go away for the next 2 hours. The only solution was to slow down or
even quit.
In the grip of my dashed dreams and depressing recollections of Ottawa, a woman in a 3/4 length
green dress ran-up beside me. At first, all I could think was that I didn't want her in the finishing photo with me, but then I lightened-up and focussed on enjoying the slower pace, and surviving to the finish.
It wasn't long before I noticed that I was surrounded by women targeting a
Boston Qualification at 3:40. Their spirit and excitement reminded me that much
of the joy in running a marathon is that it is an unusual opportunity to share
an exciting experience simultaneously with many, many others.
My intellectual brother Steve commented that the appearance of the woman in the green dress reminded him of a plot from an "Albee" play. Hmm...I had to check that on the internet before I realized that he was referring to plots like Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life", where the film's hero, George Bailey (James Stewart), depressed and suicidal, is visited by an angel who reminds him that he has much to be proud of, and much to live for. Well, I wasn't close to suicidal, and the woman in the green dress probably wouldn't like the moniker of "angel", but there are some similarities from my perspective.
Shortly after I crossed the finish line, I spoke with a woman from Guelph whom I met only that morning before the race. She was depressed because she missed her Boston Qualification by 50 seconds. When she confirm that she finished 3:40:50, I now assumed the role of the "Angel", encouraging her to send her letter to Boston, knowing that they always accept chip time, and normally accept an appeal within the minute!
Marathons are always such an experience, and this one was no exception. "My 16th marathon you ask? Oh yes, I remember that one, I ran most of the race with a woman in a green dress."
submitted by John G. Lyng
Editor, Longboat Daily Express
